WP page 1: Marshals To Patrol Land, Sea Transport

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301709.html

By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005; Page A01

Teams of undercover air marshals and uniformed law enforcement officers will fan out to bus and train stations, ferries, and mass transit facilities across the country this week in a new test program to conduct surveillance and "counter potential criminal terrorist activity in all modes of transportation," according to internal federal documents.

According to internal Transportation Security Administration documents, the program calls for newly created "Visible Intermodal Protection and Response" teams -- called "viper" teams -- to take positions in public areas along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and Los Angeles rail lines; ferries in Washington state; and mass transit systems in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Viper teams will patrol the Washington Metro system, as well.

A viper team will consist of two air marshals, one TSA bomb-sniffing-canine team, one or two transportation security inspectors, one local law enforcement officer, and one other TSA employee. Some members of the team will be obvious to the traveling public and wear jackets bearing the TSA name on the back. Others will be plainclothes air marshals scanning the crowds for suspicious individuals. It is unclear how many viper teams will be on patrol through the New Year's holiday, but air marshal officials confirm that they will be at seven locations across the country.

"TSA is going to extend its outreach into other modes of transportation," said David Adams, spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service. "We think this is a very good approach to test our tools and quickly deploy resources in the event of a situation or a threat. It shows we could be at any of these places."

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have to face them here!

Memo:

All terra dudes who are not in Iraq, please report to Iraq.

Signed,
*

Or maybe we need "official state guides", like the Soviet Union used to do...

And WTF is a Viper?

A form of verbal Viagra for essentially bored law enforcement types.

Damn, I thought I could stay safe by avoiding airports and airplanes.

Really, I think we're overdoing this whole security consciousness. Creeps me out.

to a form of transportation near you!

This is a test run for martial law!

real war on Christmas!